After the United States nearly won the warm-up game in Paris and narrowly beat Serbia by four points in the semifinals, some would say the rest of the world is catching up, but not Kevin Durant.
“Oh my gosh, no, of course not,” Durant said when asked if the world was getting closer to America.
“We beat Serbia three times this summer, you know what I’m saying? So what, it’s like a game, yeah. They’re going to get a game that looks solid.
“France beat us once, they did beat us last year, but we also beat them for the gold medal at the last Olympics, you know what I’m saying? We beat them twice for the gold medal.
“There will be some players like Victor [Wembanyama]and [Nikola] Jokic and Giannis [Antetokounmpo]. I won’t let Sai go [Gilgeous Alexander] There, because they’re next door in Canada. Those three.
“If you look at three players and say, ‘They caught up with other Americans,’ and we have hundreds and thousands of Americans doing the same thing. You can’t do that with just three players assert, saying it’s starting to catch up now, or because of a tight game against Serbia.
“No, I don’t believe it’s close. People giving them credit for having a close game against us shows they have no ability to compete at all. We created basketball. They were influenced by us. Luka was influenced by the Americans. So was Jokic. So was Tony Kukoc. So were all those guys. We had the blueprint.
Durant added: “It’s definitely lovely for people who want to experience history. I was there to witness the changing of the guard between the Americans and the Europeans. When the reality is we’ve been dominating these guys, people Want to try to change the narrative and hype some crap. They’re finally getting close to 20 points and now you can say they’re playing catch-up. It doesn’t make sense.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Durant are unlikely to compete in the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, a major blow to Team USA.
But there is no doubt that the younger generation will step up.
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